title: Reduced Expression of RNA Binding Protein CELF2, a Putative Tumor Suppressor Gene in Colon Cancer.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Colon cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in both men and women in the United States. Every year, 160000 cases of colorectal cancer are diagnosed, and 57000 patients die. CUGBP, Elav-like family member 2 (CELF2) is an RNA binding protein that modulates various posttranscriptional events including RNA splicing, shuttling, editing, stability and translation. Previous studies have demonstrated that CELF2 expression is low in colon cancer cells. Furthermore, ectopic overexpression of CELF2 induces cells to undergo death by mitotic catastrophe. Based on the above observations, we hypothesized that CELF2 expression might be reduced during neoplastic transformation of colon cells.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty human colon cancer tissues along with 10 uninvolved normal colon tissues from cancer patients were utilized for immunohistochemical analysis of CELF2 expression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We have observed that CELF2 levels are reduced in colon tumor tissues when compared to the normal intestinal tissues. The data set suggests that RNA binding protein CELF2 could be a potential tumor suppressor protein. CELF2 was predominantly nuclear in normal cells, while the cancer tissues had diffused cytoplasmic staining.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CELF2 expression is consistently reduced during neoplastic transformation suggesting that it might play a crucial role in tumor initiation and progression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas, USA ; Kansas University Cancer Center, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas, USA.
authors.forename: Satish
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ramalingam
authors.forename: Prabhu
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ramamoorthy
authors.forename: Dharmalingam
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Subramaniam
authors.forename: Shrikant
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anant
keywords: cell death; intestine; tumors